Okinawa governor refuses to comply with land ministry on U.S. base relocation issue

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga on Friday said that he will refuse the central government's recommendation that he retract his revocation of a permit given for landfill work approval related to the relocation of a controversial U.S. air base on the southern island.

Japan's land minister Keiichi Ishii had previously recommended that Onaga retract his revocation as the central government continues its push to relocate the the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the densely populated region of Ginowan, to the coastal region of Henoko, also on Okinawa island.

Onaga, along with other prefectural officials, as well as the locals of Japan's southernmost prefecture, remain staunchly opposed to the relocation plan made between Japan and the United States and wish for the base to be relocated off the island or out of Japan altogether.

Onaga in a local news conference Friday was quoted as saying that he "can't comply with the recommendation" because the original approval given by his predecessor for the landfill work contained faults and hence his moves to revoke it were lawful.

He also said he sent a letter to the land minister to make him aware of his decision not to retract his revocation and in the letter queried Ishii's decision to suspend his revocation of the approval for the landfill work.

Onaga has also blasted the central government for its heavy-handed tactics in deploying a special police riot squad team from Tokyo to help the local police guard the site of the new base, which has seen protesters, largely elderly, trying to block trucks from entering the construction site by staging a sit-in.

"The central government is doing whatever it takes to proceed with the relocation, such as by sending in riot police officers of the Metropolitan Police Department in massive numbers," Onaga told local reporters.

Okinawa's local government has lodged an official complaint with the Central and Local Government Dispute Management Council, which falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and a third-party panel, comprised of five administrative experts, will now be called upon to adjudicate in the dispute between the prefectural and central government.

If the outcome isn't in Okinawa's favor, the local government will sue the central government, according to local media reports.

The case may well end up in the High Court where the Okinawa prefectural government will seek to have the land minister's decision invalidated, in a further headache for Tokyo who has guaranteed Washington the relocation will go ahead as per a previous bilateral pact.

Onaga claimed that the central government, despite its pledges to Washington that it would do its utmost to gain the understanding of the people of Okinawa about its plans to relocate the base, had blatantly shown it had no such intentions.

"The government keeps saying they're dedicated to considering the feelings of the Okinawan people, but based on their actions, they clearly have no such intention," Onaga previously stated, going on to suggest that the central government was not only acting in its own interests, but on the fringes of the law.

"By first rendering my revocation of the permit invalid through a request for administrative review, and then having the presiding governmental minister demand that I revoke my revocation, the government is clearly trying to act in a variety of contradictory capacities to suit its own convenience. Can they really face the world claiming that Japan is a country of laws?" Onaga also said recently. Endit